The Heart Festival
by Ran and Spheal
Summary: When Randi can't take her Pokemon into Amity Square, it only sends her into a rage that drives her to take the Heart Ribbon to prove that every Pokemon is special, including her Spheal. Special notes inside. Chapter 1 is up!


Pokemon Fanfiction: The Heart Festival

Author: Ran and Spheal

Genre: Romance/Adventure... and Pokemon stuff! oO

Rating: For now, PG (I tried to keep my cursing to a low roar this time.)

Summary: Randi's trying to develop the ultimate Poffin before the time of the Heart Festival, but a challenge comes her way when her beloved Spheal is rejected from the park he wishes to visit. A chapter of a huge ongoing series!

A/N: I wouldn't consider this a self-insert, really. But it is in a way, since I'm putting my real life friends into the Pokeverse. If you don't like it, then don't even bother reading it. This is actually season THREE in an ongoing Pokemon fanfiction series I've been working on for years. Season 1 was Randi and James' adventure fighting Team Magma/Aqua/Rocket in Hoenn. Season 2 was short lived, but has Randi deciding to leave Hoenn to find adventure and life somewhere else, wherein she makes her best friend Spheal and she ends up in Sinnoh. This takes place two years after arriving in Sinnoh. And yes, Wynaut is still here, fans! Season 1 was only handwritten and sent in pieces to James himself, Season 2 never left my notebook, and this is the first season to be published. Season 4 is all ready planned, which takes the family scene much deeper: Randi's baby girl Anna is born!

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or any of the places mentioned. Randi is myself, Eric my husband, and the other human characters that are named are based on real friends. I don't own them. The story is original, however.

Chapter One: The Challenge

The Heart of Hearthome City is considered, by most of the world of Pokemon, the contests. People flock to Hearthome from all over Sinnoh and the world to take part. At the bottom of every contestant are the Poffins, and the heart of every Poffin comes a berry - a fruit of the earth, a gift, which enables these people and Pokemon to excell in bringing about the natural condition of each contestant.

Or, at least, this is how Randi reasoned it in her mind.

"You have to be joking," she muttered, trying to muffled a very frustrated laugh. "Berry Master, my garden depends on your secret recipie mulch..."

The old man that everyone addressed as Berry Master looked up to see the pregnant woman bearing a very shocked expression, one of near hopelessness. "I'm sorry, dear. You can have my last bushel of berries for your shop... I can't make any mulch for you..." he said, bowing his head carefully. "By the way, how is your husband?"

Randi grunted as she shook her head, her short curly hair bouncing along with it. "Busy, as usual. Contests are really in season right now," she replied, crossing her arms. "Everyone wants to get that damned prize, you know."

"Ah, little Ran, don't worry," The Berry Master finally said cheerfully. "You shouldn't forget yourself, either. I saw the picture of Spheal in the contest hall last week, wearing an Ultra Cute Ribbon. You shouldn't sell all your poffins, you'll want to stand a chance!"

She just stood there as she plainly stated, "The contests aren't really my passion anymore. I can tell that they aren't really Spheal's ideal day, either, he hates having so many people look at him like that." She pushed up her silver rimmed glasses before she spun around and sighed. "And Eric, as a judge... people were all ready accusing me of using him to buy off the other judges." The frustration in her face became more apparent as she spoke of it, so she decided that she shouldn't continue anymore on the matter. Randi grabbed the basket of berries that the berry master set aside for her. "I will pay you back for this, though, Gramps."

"Only if you feel you must!"

"But I do."

"Can you carry that? Maybe you should send Eric to get it for you? I don't want you hurting your baby."

Randi grunted to herself again as she muttered, "I'm not a weakling..." she said, barely able to hold up the basket. "Plus, you forget, I have a friend with me." Using her foot, she kicked open the door and waddled out very penguin like slowly until a big blue round friend of hers rolled over to her side.

"SPHEAL!" he said happily.

She smiled as she reached down to pet her Pokemon. "Hey, how's my cutie? ...We can't get the mulch." She said to him, trying to balance the basket in both of her hands before falling over completely beside the Spheal whom waited for her so paitently. "Our super awesome special plan is toast, my friend." She thought about it. Selling her Secret Poffins is what she was waiting for, and with the Heart Festival a week away... Realizing this, she couldn't even concentrate enough to pick up the damn basket. "And you're probably tired, too."

Spheal pulled his fins in and began to roll around Randi, perhaps trying to cheer her up a little.

"Until we get a way to carry these home, we aren't going anywhere." She said sternly. "It's sad. No secret mulch, no uber berries... no uber berries, no secret poffins... and with the Festival so close..." She glanced up at the sky, noticing the sun setting to the west, on the other side of Mount Coronet. "Spheal, don't wear yourself out..."

He stopped his rolling around once he heard footsteps coming from the direction of the mountain.

"What's the Poffin Wonder Chef doing out here?" the person called loudly. "Why don't you come home, you owe me a double layer cake!"

Randi cocked an eyebrow upward. "Owe you?" she asked. "Really?"

"Yeah, for carrying your basket of berries. I mean, what else would you give me?"

"A slap in the face?"

"Close enough, but I'd rather have the cake."

Randi pulled herself up off the ground and shook her head carefully. "Ah, fine, I'll bake you a cake, but you don't have to... Nami..." By the time she was up on her feet, Nami snatched up the basket and was quickly making his way to the town entrance. "...Come on, Spheal, now we owe the bastard a freakin' cake. We shouldn't be too upset about it! Now we have a guinea pig."

Nami laughed very cheerfully. "I'll eat whatever you bake. So... I hear Contest Central is pretty busy these days..."

"The Heart Festival is next week, and he's a judge. They close down all normal contests and gym battles the entire week, so they have him working overtime right now," Randi explained as they neared their home, appropriately named the Poffin House. "I wanted to sell my Special Poffins, but..."

"But?"

"I can't get the super awesome special mulch I needed to get my secret berries to grow. I went to the Berry Master's to get that, not these. He felt bad because of the lack of mulch, so he gave me this freakin' basket." Her face drew a slight frown across itself.

Nami nodded. "I'm here for the Festival, too. There's a battle tournament."

"Why of course, Mr. Battle Master."

"...shut up."

"I'd really appriciate it if you didn't tell my wife to 'shut up'," a voice said right in front of the Poffin House sign.

"HONEY!!" Randi glomped around him the instant she saw him. "It's been lonely making poffins by myself, you know." He didn't even bother to pull away once she started to rub on his five oclock shadow. No one else enjoyed the sandpaper-like sensation except for her.

"Even if you ARE the absolute poffin otaku?" Nami inquired soundly. "I've yet to meet another person who knows the consistancy and smoothness of every berry discovered thus far."

"I have to achieve perfection before Monday!" Randi muttered to herself - forgetting about the compliments her friend tried to give her. This made Nami a little sad.

Eric just smiled. "I'm sure you'll do it. Friday is the Grand Finale Master Rank Contest," he said. "Randi's secret poffin will probably sell very well, everyone wants the Heart Master Ribbon, it's a high honor among both contest coordinators AND Ribbon fanatics."

Nami nodded as he added quietly, "But wouldn't she rather have one of those instead of helping someone get it? I'm sure Spheal'd like another ribbon to add onto the rack!"

The door of their Poffin House swung open by the hands of Eric's Ludicolo. "Colo!" he greeted them, waving his free hand.

"Hi there, Ludicolo," Randi said, petting his face once she came close enough. "How's our big happy dancer?"

"...colo... ludi..." Obviously, Ludicolo liked getting his face petted.

Nami came through, putting the berries on the nearby table.

"Thanks for helping with the berries, though," Eric said. "And thank you, Ludicolo, for getting the door." Randi and Spheal followed him inside, and Ludicolo closed the door behind everyone.

Spheal immediately bounced over to Ludicolo with a smile. They chatted together in their own Poke-speak, exchanging details of what happened while each other where away.

From the top of the bookshelf, a small blue Pokemon with a lump on his head dropped down onto Randi's shoulder. "WYNAUT!" he said loudly, yet he sounded very joyful.

Randi petted her first Pokemon and asked him, "Aha, you want to help me bake, don't you?" Wynaut nodded vigorously in reply. "Okay, okay. You can help me. And Nami, you can let all your Pokemon out in the backyard. I'm assuming you brought a few giants with you for the tournament."

"So they all can play together," Nami decided in agreement as he opened the backdoor and threw out three Pokeballs. "Okay, guys! Typhlosion, Raichu, and Drapion, come on out!"

All three were pretty big, but Raichu still climbed on Nami's shoulder to give him a small hug. They looked extremely strong and well built for the battle tournament.

"Tonight is a night off, so relax and enjoy yourselves." Nami said promptly. "No fighting, some of the Pokemon here might not be ready to thrash about with you... they seem to be mostly babies. We don't fight with things that aren't trained to our level."

Eric's eye twitched. "Aren't... TRAINED?!"

"Who are YOU kidding?!" Randi snapped. "I'll have you know that Wynaut and Spheal are VERY well trained. I'm a decendant of the Rising Clan of Johto, you know." She turned around and stomped off, Wynaut still on her shoulder and Spheal following. They walked out the front door and closed it behind them.

"Did you really have to say that?!" Eric asked. "Really?"

"I didn't mean that she doesn't train her Pokemon... I just wanted these guys to be nice, they're used to thrashing about with themselves and others. I didn't want to insult her or anything, I just didn't want to see anyone's babies get hurt." Nami explained himself, but he felt there was no use to it at this point.

"Word choice... but don't worry, she doesn't stay mad for very long. She might be sensitive about her raising techniques, but she calms down pretty quickly," Eric said finally, looking over to Ludicolo. "Keep our guests company, buddy?"

Ludicolo straightened out his hat and nodded. "Ludi!!"

Meanwhile, Randi was walking away from the Poffin House even though she was all ready over her anger. The cool winds paired with a cloudless, starry sky pierced the negative feelings of her heart pretty quickly.

"Wynaut, Spheal..." Randi finally said, "I think I overreacted a bit..." She gazed up to the Harvest Red Moon with a slight admiration. "Decendant of the Rising Clan or not, I'm not a dragon tamer. I'm not really the same." Releasing a pent up sigh, she shrugged. "I'm sorry, you two. I'm not capable of making you stronger for battle."

Spheal rubbed up against her leg gently. Wynaut tried to cheer her up by climbing her head to sit on the top of it and do a little dance.

"...thanks you guys... You know what? We should go watch the moon. It'll make us feel a whole lot better." She could tell easily where the best spot would be to view the full moon from, after all, stargazing was her second favorite hobby. Randi walked, with Spheal at her side and Wynaut on her head, into the gate and started to go past the customer service desk. "I really can't wait to show you how pretty that moon is. The cake can wait!"

"Excuse me, miss?"

Randi turned to see a well dressed lady at the desk. "Yes?"

"I'm sorry, you can only come in Amity Square with a CUTE Pokemon. Please put those two in their pokeballs, okey?"

There were certain things you never said to Randi: insulting her family OR her Pokemon. The pregnant one's eyebrow twitched violently. "I promised to take Spheal and Wynaut to view the Harvest Moon. You AREN'T telling us to go home."

The lady nodded, giving Wynaut a disgusted look. "Your Wynaut is on your head..." she declared. "What's with that?"

"He likes to be up high," Randi replied with a shrug. "Wynaut's got a slight case of OCD, but that makes him no less lovable." Wynaut chimed in with a happy call and a tail thomp on the back of her head. "Hey now, be nice..." Then her eyes narrowed and set themselves on the desk clerk again. "Listen. My Pokemon and I are going to enjoy the moon. You're going to keep your STUPID opinions to yourself."

"You don't understand. Your Pokemon would cheapen the cute atmopshere in Amity Square!" the lady said loudly.

"SKITTY isn't CUTE, either!!" Randi finally snapped angrily. "I thought any Pokemon you considered special could enter Amity Square, says so on the commercial! My husband thinks Lotad is cute!! My Spheal here is Ultra Rank Cute!! HOW DARE YOU INSULT PEOPLE'S CHOICE!"

The lady stomped her foot and pointed to the door. "Get out. You're disturbing the peace."

Randi passed a deathglare to the woman. "Once I get that Heart Ribbon, we're coming back. You won't be able to refuse his cuteness then." She stomped out, once again, her feathers were ruffled. "Spheal, Wynaut, we'll go home and watch the moon from our house tonight. Then it's all about practice. Screw the rules, we're getting that Heart Ribbon. We should be able to go wherever we want!"


End file.
